Dear Friend,

No one wins in war. But some suffer more than others. And no one bears the cost more heavily than children.

On October 7th, Israeli children were subjected to unimaginable violence. Young lives were brutally taken. Others lost parents, grandparents and siblings, or were kidnapped and held hostage. For those who survived, the trauma of what they saw and endured will remain with them for life. At Combatants for Peace, we mourn every child lost and stand with every child who lived through the horror of that day and the violence that followed.

And in Gaza, we are witnessing a tragedy so vast it’s difficult to comprehend or find the words needed to express ourselves. It is estimated that over 18,000 children have been killed. Their homes, schools, and playgrounds were obliterated. Entire generations wiped out. Families have been decimated — often, the only survivor is a child left orphaned and alone. We are outraged by the world’s ongoing failure to protect these children — a failure compounded by the lack of sustained international pressure to uphold even the most basic protections for civilian life.

And for the children who have survived the bombings, survival does not mean safety. It means hunger, displacement, untreated wounds, and the ache of constant fear. Gaza’s health system has collapsed, food supplies are deliberately restricted, and aid convoys are routinely blocked. Malnutrition has become widespread, with babies and toddlers suffering irreversible damage to their growth and development. They scream from hunger their parents cannot soothe. The war has not ended, it has only changed form. Now, it is waged through siege, through starvation, through the slow death of hope. And once again, it is children who are paying the highest and most unbearable price.